Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to charging electronic devices and, in particular, to managed collaborative charging.
Description of the Related Art
Battery packs are used to power many devices from laptops to mobile phones and so on. The problem many people face with using battery power is that sometimes the batteries go dead leaving the device powered by the batteries as unusable. In the modern age, batteries are important as they allow business people to communicate and work on the move using battery-powered mobile devices.
In the future, there will be many methods to charge devices wirelessly. Further to that end, devices with an in-built or external dual transmitter/receiver could receive and send charge wirelessly. Indeed the in-built or external dual transmitter/receiver could directionally send the charge. The problem with the preceding wireless charging scenario is that there is limited power that can be transmitted wirelessly. For example, a phone may consume 7.5 watts while being used and being charged at the same time, while the above wireless charging devices might only transmit a fraction of a watt which can be very problematic. As another example, in a face-to-face meeting with several participants, a person demonstrating an application might need several watts but current consumption outstrips supply. Thus, there is a need for a way to efficiently manage power drain in mobile devices.